Sadie |
Tyler | "Angel" Melody
Tyler's Story
written by mom Ashley
Tyler was born on October 9th, 2000 in
Greenville, South Carolina. He loves his four wheeler and play cars and
trucks. He dislikes all the chemo and doctor visits.
At Christmas, just after Tyler turned 2, he fell on a small toy car and
scratched his jaw. The jaw swelled and by New Year's Day we had to take him
to the hospital. The hospital staff said that Tyler needed surgery to remove
a cist. Dr. Wilson did the surgery and came out with tears in his eyes. He
said that the problem was not a cist, it was cancer and that he sent a
portion of the extracted material to the lab to have it analyzed. The
results came back as Rhabdomyosarcoma of the Mandible. When the results
arrived, January 30th, we were called to his office and he cried with us.
Tyler was admitted to MUSC immediately.
Tyler was having trouble breathing. Because of his jaw so the doctors
decided a tracheotomy was needed. At the same time, Tyler's jaw fell, so the
medical staff had to wire the jaw shut. Then he couldn't keep feeding tubes
in, forcing them to replace the tube six times.
After radiation and chemo, Tyler underwent surgery again where they took a
bone from Tyler's leg and transplanted it into the jaw. Shortly thereafter
it was diagnosed that the cancer had moved to his lungs. Both lungs were
infected. Tyler lost the upper right portion of the right lung and chemo
seemed to clear up the left lung, as a result of this surgery a chest tube
was inserted.
Tyler is in and out of doctor offices. Still making all the trips then and
now. But God has been with us and he has got us this far. Tyler had 4 staff
infections while he was in the hospital, which encompassed most of 2003.
Tyler has come a long way but has many complications. The fibula bone that
was taken from his leg died and he now has no jaw bone and needs a jaw
replacement. He has a lot of surgeries and stuff coming up to align his jaw
so that he can have the jaw replacement soon. His face is drawing to one
side and it is affecting his eating. He has pain in his jaw and leg.
Tyler is walking, can even run, he talks but you can't understand a lot that
he says. He's in school. Tyler has now had 19 surgeries and has to go to
MUSC of Charleston. There are no doctors in Greenville that will treat the
cancer that he has had [in remission]. The doctors at MUSC don't want the
Greenville doctors doing the jaw replacement, OR any other doctors treating
Tyler. Everything they said must be done in Charleston at MUSC Hospital.
Please keep Tyler and our family in your prayers as we continue Tyler's
journey.
Abilities:
See: Yes.
Hear: Yes.
Talk: Yes, but hard to understand.
Walk: Yes, but has pain.
Read: Not yet, learning.
Use hands: Yes.
Siblings:
brother Jayden, age 1
Child's Interests:
Tyler loves playing, opening snail mail and swimming in the summer.
Sibling's Interests:
Jayden likes all the toodler things!
Click
HERE
for recent updates on Tyler
(use the "Search" box on the sidebar of that page
to find updates on this particular child)
){kind=link}